Massive Security Risk
by ladybadasskillington
Summary: Dax gets kidnapped by Mizo's thugs while the gang is racing in Kras. Jak and Tess teach Mizo why this was a terrible, terrible mistake.


_OK, I know what you're thinking: "HEY WHY HAVEN'T YOU UPDATED POINT THREE YOU USELESS AUTHOR" but my excuse is that NaNo happened (really! I got to 50,000 words and everything!) and then I was lazy for like a week and then this prompt happened on Tumblr and I got sidetracked. There is totally an update in the works for PT though!_

_I suppose that this technically counts as a Jak X AU, because I'm writing it under the assumption that Tess and Jinx went to the reading of Krew's will. Because that makes way more sense than Ashelin and Keira going, given that the latter two did not, in fact, have any real connection with Krew while Tess and Jinx did. (Also, doesn't Ashe have better things to do, like run a city?) Samos is not there either, because WHY WAS HE EVEN IN THE GAME? Besides, Kras gives a good background for this prompt, which was basically that Dax gets kidnapped and Jak and Tess team up to get him back. And that they cause massive destruction in the process._

_Dax and Tess are human because of reasons. There also may be one or two hints of Jak/Torn._

_Last note: I totally lifted the name Athenril from DAII. Don't sue me, Bioware._

* * *

Ashelin had asked Tess to keep an eye on the boys while they were in Kras, given that Torn, Jak, Daxter and Jinx together could do a ton of damage. What Ashelin hadn't counted on, Tess knew, was that the blonde would be adding to the chaos.

_Oh, well. Those thugs shouldn't have taken my schnookums! _Tess thought to herself as she grabbed every gun she could carry_. At least Torn's still out drinking with Jinx and Sig at the Bloody Hook, so he won't try to stop me from going after him. Protective bastard._

It had all started an hour ago. As far as she and Jak could tell, her darling had been doing what he did best—storytelling. He'd gone off to the main lounge of the racer's quarters, the area where all the racers could get together behind the scenes before and after the races. She and Jak had been back in their team's garage, examining the weapons on Jak's car. They'd jammed in the last race, and Tess wanted to make sure they were back in working order by the time the car was back on the track.

Apparently, some of Mizo's people had seen that Daxxie was alone and realized it was an opportunity to weaken the best new racing team in Kras. They'd snatched him, and some lackey had made his way back to their garage.

"Hey, don't kill the messenger," he'd said in a panic, after Jak slammed him into a wall, holding him by his shirt. "That ain't gonna get your pal back! They just—they just told me to tell you to drop out of the races, or the redheaded kid's gonna pay the price."

Tess had tapped Jak on the shoulder. "Sweetie, put him down and let me talk to him." The man looked relieved, until Tess punched him in the face.

"Where is he? Think about your answer very. Carefully." She had her arm over his throat, pressing with just enough force to make it hard for him to breathe.

"They didn't tell me where they were taking him," he babbled.

"Wrong answer. Jak, hand me my pistol. The one with the yellow band on the barrel." She shoved it up under his chin. "I'll even change the question for you. How do I find Daxter?"

"Talk to Athenril and her guys on the west side! They take care of Mizo's hostage operations, they operate out of one of the warehouses there!" He rattled off the address. "It's true, I swear, please don't kill me!"

"Thank you. That wasn't so hard, was it?" She moved back, allowing him to fall forward, and slammed the butt of her gun against the base of his skull. Jak was already suiting up.

"Jak, can we drop him off on our way out? We don't want to leave him in the garage all by himself."

* * *

Now, they were headed across town to find this Athenril person. The warehouse the lackey had pointed out was in the industrial district—squarely under Mizo's control, as was the whole city. Smaller gangs had small blocks of territory here and there, but all of them paid tribute to Mizo and would jump to help him at the smallest hint.

"Athenril probably works for one of the smaller outfits," Tess said to Jak as he drove through the city. They'd agreed that Jak was the better driver and Tess was the better shot, and in the event of trouble, they needed to play to their strengths.

"It doesn't matter," Jak said angrily.

"Oh, it does, though, sweetie. It matters if we're taking on Mizo's men directly or some hired thugs." She smiled unpleasantly. "You're right though, in a way—we'll take them out regardless."

Nothing interesting happened until they reached the specified warehouse. Neither felt like being stealthy, so they just busted in through the front door, guns drawn.

"Woah! Who the fuck are you?!" A tattooed thug asked, stumbling back from his post near the door. Jak grabbed him.

"If you wanna live, tell us where Athenril is," he said. Tess cocked her gun for effect.

"S-she's just in the warehouse, she can come out and talk to you."

"Or you could take us to her."

"That won't be necessary," a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman said as she emerged from a back room. "You have some nerve, barging in here and making demands. Twenty sights are trained on you right now."

Jak shoved the door guard to the ground, and glanced at Tess. She cleared her throat.

"Now, you're Athenril , right?"

"Correct. I recognize your partner as the hotshot racer, Jak. And you're, what, his arm candy?"

Both blondes tensed. "Oh no she did not," Jak murmured under his breath.

Tess took a step forward. "I know Mizo's people just took a redhead hostage, and he passed through your hands," she said. "Now, there's no need for us to fight. Just tell us where he is and how we can get him, and we'll be on our way."

"And if I don't, Princess?"

"We'll kill you, your men, and burn this place to the ground."

"No one threatens me on my turf," Athenril replied, looking unconcerned. "Kill the woman. Leave Jak alive if you can; he's valuable."

In the time it took her to say that, Tess had already pulled the pins on two yellow eco grenades. They were off and away before any of Athenril's thugs had moved a step, and Jak and Tess ran to the nearest cover.

Athenril's head whipped around as she tried to follow their trajectory. Jak shot her legs out from under her just before the explosion.

There were two deafening booms, at least a dozen screams, and the smoky smell of yellow eco. Gunfire rang out, but it quickly became clear that it was from a few confused thugs who had no idea where, exactly, Tess and Jak were.

Jak realized after a moment that there was a lot of smoke, and it wasn't just the eco. The gunfire and eco combo had set off a fire that was consuming the whole building. What was in those grenades wasn't like the eco ammo he used in the morph gun; it was untreated, and untreated yellow eco was as flammable as anything. Hell, those grenades were made to cause as much chaos as possible. This chain of events wasn't that uncommon when they were used.

He darted out of cover to mow down a fleeing thug with his scatter gun, then charged for the crippled Athenril. Tess covered him, but the grenades had made her job easy. The men who had survived and were still able to move on their own were running for their lives; nobody was trying to take Jak (or her) down.

Except for one. He was on her before she knew he was there, what with all the background noise. He swung his gun up to shoot her, but she got his wrist in her left hand, grabbed the barrel of the gun in her right hand, and pushed it towards him. After she twisted his wrist so the gun faced him, she rolled the handle of the gun against his thumb and he cried out in pain.

"Sorry," she said, as she pulled the barrel of the gun from his weakened hands and shot him with it. No one else came near, and when she turned to check on Jak, he had Athenril over his shoulder.

There was another loud boom as something flammable exploded, throwing fire across Jak's path to Tess—and to the door. She swore and holstered her weapons, running to a nearby metal crate.

_Hope this doesn't have anything flammable in it_, she thought, pushing it into the fire. Jak jumped on top and over as flames licked its sides, but the crate itself didn't go up.

They beat it out of the burning warehouse, jumping onto their zoomer and driving to a safe distance.

Face contorted with pain, Athenril told them what they wanted to know. "He's…he's at Mizo's HQ. Even I don't know where it is. Your redhead moved through m-my warehouse, and normally we would've have taken him to one of our holding facilities in the city…but they wanted him at Mizo's. For—for safekeeping, they said."

"Are they going to hurt him?!" Jak asked through gritted teeth.

"Probably not. If he doesn't…doesn't try to escape."

"If you don't know where he is, who does?"

"One of Mizo's racers. Cutter or Shiv…or Razer…only his closest associates know where he operates."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Tess asked.

"Because if I don't, you'll finish what you started." Just then, her comm went off. Tess told her to answer it.

The voice that came through was obviously modified. The deep, distorted tones apparently belonged to Mizo.

"What the hell is going on over there?! I'm hearing some bullshit about an explosion."

"Well…there was a disturbance. On account of that hostage that just passed through."

"What do you mean, a disturbance?!"

"There are some people who really want him back, I think. I don't know who they were."

"Well, did they get any useful information?!"

"No, of course not. But if you could send someone to help with cleanup…they killed most of my men."

"Fine, fine. I'll send someone to help out, and report to me on the damage. You'd better hope that something's salvageable, or you won't live to see another day."

He hung up before Athenril could say anything else.

"So, Tess. You think we should wait and see if he sends somebody useful, or should we get out of here before the cavalry arrives?"

"We should hide out. Somewhere near the warehouse, not in it. You never know. As for you," she said to Athenril, "you can get help on your own, can't you?"

The other woman's eyes widened. "What?! I can't walk, you can't leave me like this!"

"You tried to kill us first, _Princess_," Tess said, standing and dusting her hands off on her pants. "We just wanted Daxter back, but you had to be difficult. Come on Jak, we've got a warehouse to stake out." As an afterthought, she snatched up Athenril's comm. "Just to make sure you don't call any friends."

When they were in position, Jak gave Tess a considering glance. "I didn't know you carried eco grenades. Those don't come cheap."

"Oh, I normally don't," Tess said. "I borrowed them from Jinx."

"What?! He's going to be pissed."

"Oh, I'm sure he won't mind. It was for a good cause."

* * *

"What…some of my grenades are missing! The fuck?!" Jinx tugged his head out of the trunk that held his stuff to look at Torn and Sig indignantly. "Someone stole some of th' good stuff!"

"Well, we've been with you all afternoon," Torn said, unmoved. "So don't look at us."

"Speaking of missing, where the hell are Jak, Daxter and Tess?" Sig asked. "I thought we were trying to lay low, so if they weren't at the bar, and they're not here…"

"They're probably blowing something up," Torn sighed, sitting down heavily.

"With my grenades?" Jinx asked, brow furrowing.

"For fuck's sake, Jinx, why is that the first thing you think to do when you get back? Check your explosive stash? And I was joking. I don't think they're dumb enough to start blowing stuff up when we're already poisoned and under constant threat of death."

"Here comes trouble," Sig said under his breath as Razer strolled in.

"Whaddya want, Razer?" Jinx asked, closing his trunk and standing.

"I merely wished to inform you that one of your associates is now in Mizo's care. Your little readheaded one, Daxter." He took a long pull from his cigarette, managing to look curious and disinterested at the same time. "Vhere are your blonde bombshells? They are very close to him, hm?"

"They ain't here," Jinx said, while Sig demanded to know what Mizo had done with Daxter.

"Mizo is offering you a deal. If you drop out of the competition, then your redhead will be returned to you unharmed. If you refuse, he'll find himself in a lot of pain. And eventually dead."

Torn strode across the room, coming to a stop just in front of Razer. "We're not dropping out, and you'd better give Daxter back, for your own sake."

The dark-haired man blew cigarette smoke in Torn's face; the other man didn't flinch. "And vhat could possibly be done to enforce that threat, hm?"

"Our so-called blonde bombshells will enforce it. I don't think you understand exactly what lengths they'll go to in order to get him back. This city will be demolished by the time they're done."

Razer smirked. "We'll just have to see. I'll come back tomorrow for your answer to Mizo's offer, and I suggest you consider very carefully." He turned on his heel and flounced out, leaving the other three men in silence.

After a moment, Sig said, "I think you called it, Torn. They probably _are_ blowing shit up."

"Precursors. Well, whatever they're up to, Razer obviously doesn't know about it yet. We need to find them and come up with a plan to get Daxter back, since there's no way we can drop out of the competition."

Sig elected to make the call, dialing Jak's comm. "Chili pepper, where are you?"

"Can't talk now, Sig. Mizo's got Dax. Tess and I are working on it." He hung up without another word.

Sig called Tess. "Seriously, we need to know where you are."

"We'll call you when we're done here, Sig. Promise." Tess hung up, too. Sig stared blankly at the comm.

"OK," Torn said. "Everybody suit up, get ready to fight some thugs. We'll be ready when they call."

"You actually think they're going to clue us in?"

Torn shrugged. "I've never known Tess to break a promise. Not even for stupid stuff."

* * *

Tess did call them back not long after, with instructions to lock up the garage and their quarters, then meet them near Athenril's warehouse. Or what was left of it.

She and Jak had taken Cutter hostage, tying him to a chair in an abandoned office nearby. Tess was gratified by Torn's expression when he saw her handiwork.

"Has he given up anything yet?" he asked her in an adjoining room, where the racer couldn't hear.

She shook her head. "Mizo sent him to check on the warehouse where hostages normally get processed. This was after Jak and I visited."

"You mean that warehouse to the south that's reduced to ash?"

"Yeah, that one. We didn't set it on fire on purpose."

Torn, Jinx and Sig all turned to look at Jak when Tess said this. He scowled.

"I didn't start the fire. But that's not important. We need to find Dax. How do we get him to talk?"

Jinx moved to rejoin the prisoner. "I'll take care of this. I did plenty of 'interrogations' for Krew; I can speak to this guy in 'is own language."

"I ain't tellin' you anything," Cutter said, spitting on the ground next to Jinx's feet. "Mizo's either gonna take you out on the track or at the end of a gun, and nothing you do to me will change that."

"Tough talk for a guy all on 'is own," Jinx said. "Nobody even knows where ya are. I ain't sayin' Mizo isn't plannin' ta take us out—y're right about that. But is he worth dyin' for?"

"He'll kill me if I tell you anything anyway."

"Will he? Y'must not be worth much. I can see why Mizo sent ya ta check this out. You're expendable."

Cutter scowled, but said nothing.

"Look, we're willin' ta let ya go. It ain't like Mizo hasn't realized that someone's gunnin' f'r 'im anyway, so you can tell 'im whatever ya want. But ya need ta tell us where the redheaded kid is."

"Bullshit. Y're not letting me run back to Mizo."

"Actually, we would," Torn said, strolling up beside Jinx. "We'd love it if you'd tell him what he's up against. Maybe then he'll back down and save us the trouble of razing this city to the ground."

Cutter looked back and forth between the two men before coming to a decision. "You'll have to do better than that."

Jinx glanced at Torn and shrugged, and they walked back out to join the others.

"When can I start breaking bones?" Jak asked. Torn slipped an arm around his waist, rubbing a thumb against his hip.

"Later, Jak. We need to see how long he'll hold up in the absence of violence, because I'd prefer not to make this any messier than it needs to be."

Jinx looked at Tess. "Toots, I've got a plan, but I'll need you front and center."

The blonde beamed. "Of course, Jinxy. Just tell me what you have in mind."

* * *

Six hours later, the office was dark. The air was cooling rapidly, and it was becoming apparent to everyone that either no one was coming for Cutter, or that no one had figured out where he was yet.

Jinx thought the racer was becoming nervous based on the way he was shifting back and forth in his chair. They were small movements, but they were still cues to his state of mind.

Cutter hadn't had any water or food, and nobody had let him up even to take a piss. Safe to say, he was getting a little uncomfortable. No one had even talked to him since Jinx and Torn's original interrogation at Jinx's instruction.

It was at this moment that Tess glided into the office, flipping on a table lamp to Cutter's left. She had to bend over to find the switch, and made sure to exaggerate the movement.

Breezily, she moved over to Cutter. "Do you want some water? You've been here an awfully long time." He looked doubtfully at the cup in her hands. She giggled and took a sip herself.

"Silly, we don't have any fancy poisons. You've been watching too many spy movies."

His expression was both welcome and familiar: he was obviously wondering if she was for real. She'd managed to knock Cutter out before he'd seen her, and was hoping he didn't realize she'd helped to take him hostage. Let him think she was a floozy that had arrived with Torn, Sig and Jinx in order to give them some eye candy (though, really, Tess thought Jak was prettier than she was. But he was a little too prickly for this type of act.)

Cutter grunted, and she took that to mean that he did want the drink. She put it to his lips, bending just so. He wasn't focused on the glass while he swallowed the water down.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He eyed her for a long moment. Tess cocked her head at him and waited, blue eyes wide.

"Hey sweetheart, I have a question."

"Oh? What is it?"

"How serious are these guys?"

"Oh, well, they really want their friend back. They're a little scary. I think they might have killed someone already."

"I could protect you from them, if you'll help me get out of here," he said, leering.

"I don't think I should do that," she said, sounding uncertain and twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I might get in trouble. Can't you just tell them what they want? I'll make sure they let you go…"

He shook his head and sighed. "It's not that simple, honey. I work for Mizo, and if I tell them what they want, he won't be happy. Besides, these guys don't have real power. Mizo does."

"All he did was kidnap somebody, though, right? It's just one person. Why is it so important?"

He leaned in. "Can you keep a secret?"

She leaned in close, making sure her chest was in his face. "Yeah! I'm a great secret keeper!"

"This kid they got is best friends with that blonde racer, that Jak guy. They say he'll do anything to get him back. Mizo wants them to drop out of the races in return for this Daxter kid. He's thinking of putting a ransom on him, too."

"Oh! He must be really important, then."

"You got it, doll. But I'm even more important. Mizo sent me to investigate these guys because I'm one of his top operatives. And one of his best racers."

Tess had to try her best to look impressed. Cutter was getting really old, really fast.

He went on, of course. Guys like this never knew when to shut up.

"If you help me get out of here, I can show you what it's like to roll with a real racer, y'know. Take you to races, buy you some nice clothes…I've got a great pad in Mizo's HQ. You'll love it."

"You would really do that?"

"Of course, beautiful. Girls like you don't come along every day." He flexed against his bonds. "So, how about it? Where are your guys?"

"I think they're having some drinks. Some of them might be asleep. They were getting bored," she said, shrugging.

"Quick, untie me then, and we'll get outta here. You won't regret it."

She did what he said and led him to a side door, away from where Jak and the others were. Tess prayed that Cutter would actually take her back to Mizo's HQ instead of dumping her on the side of the road somewhere.

They took one of the zoomers that the guys had purposefully left outside. Tess made sure to press snugly against Cutter, letting a hand rest just above the hem of his pants.

As they drove off, she kept her eyes firmly in front.

* * *

As soon as he heard Tess and Cutter leave, Sig called to the other three men.

"He took the bait. They're gone."

They moved quickly and quietly to the side exit and peered out, waiting until Cutter's taillights were a little ways away before darting out to grab two zoomers.

Jak and Sig paired up and took the lead, with Torn and Jinx close behind. For the first few minutes it was a quiet drive.

"Jak," Sig murmured, close to the blonde's ear, "you hear something?"

"Yeah. Someone is following us."

"Do you think Cutter realized he was being followed?"

"Maybe. But his men could have been waiting nearby, or he might've asked for backup just in case."

Jak glanced back to see that Torn and Jinx were tense, obviously aware of their pursuers. Torn was fingering one of his guns, and Sig apparently thought that it was time to get reacquainted with the peacemaker.

Hell broke loose five minutes later. Two zoomers came screaming out of alleyways on either side of the four men. Jak immediately pulled up, sailing over the nearest rooftop. Sig swore at the sudden motion, throwing an arm around Jak to keep himself onboard.

As Jak dodged the nearest zoomer, his partner charged the Peacemaker.

"Sig! I can't evade them forever, shoot something!"

"I need another minute, and then I'm going to need you to slow down at my signal! One good hit and they're toast!"

Grim-faced, the blonde did as he was told. Bullets whizzed by, some denting the body of the zoomer. Jak swore when one got too close, slicing open his shirt on the left side and making a shallow cut.

"Now!" Jak swung around in mid-air, facing their attackers head on, and Sig hit the zoomer squarely in the middle of the two men. Both driver and gunman were injured, and the flimsy zoomer they were on couldn't stand up the heat and force of the shot. Part of the machinery was exposed, and Jak pulled out his own gun and fired a yellow eco bolt at the weak spot. The zoomer burst into flames and went careening into a nearby building.

There wasn't time to celebrate; Jinx and Torn had been forced to abandon their zoomer on a nearby rooftop and were pinned down behind it. Just as Jak closed on them, Torn got a headshot on the driver. He lost control and spiraled to the road below, crashing with a satisfying explosion.

"OK, let's regroup," Sig said. "We've lost Cutter and Tess, and Cutter may know we're following him."

"And if he does, Tess is in even more danger, because he may suspect that she knew we would follow," Torn added.

"We're down a zoomer," Jak said. "How are we all getting there, and how will we pick up the trail again?"

"Let's just steal something," Jinx said, shrugging. "And let's head in the direction Tess was going when they attacked. We'll have to figure it out as we go along."

* * *

"Is this it?" Tess asked curiously as Cutter drove up to a large, industrial-looking building.

"Yep, this is HQ. I know it doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's much nicer once you get in the door." He put his hands around her waist to help her dismount the zoomer.

The politeness was less impressive a moment later when he attempted to grab her wrists and press her into the wall. But Tess was too fast, slamming her knee into his groin and slamming the heel of her palm into his nose.

Cutter made extremely unmanly noise and crumpled to the ground, clutching his crotch. Tess got in a few solid punches before he could scream for help, stunning him.

She pulled a discreetly-placed pistol from her bra and shot him in the back of the head. She'd attached a silencer in preparation for a moment like this, so for now, no one was the wiser.

_I don't know what he was planning on doing with me, but I guess he didn't get what he wanted_, she thought. _He should have learned to pick his targets more wisely. _

She and Jak had already searched his pockets for anything useful, so Tess abandoned the body and crept around the building.

If this was Mizo's HQ, it had been well-chosen. It looked like any other factory on this side of the city, but it was definitely big enough to hold a reclusive crime lord and his associates. All she wanted was a sign that this was the place—then she'd go back and get the others.

Slipping around the side, Tess found a back door. It was locked, but she heard voices inside, and pressed her ear to the door.

"Cutter still hasn't reported back. I'm beginning to think this kid is more trouble than he's worth." The voice sounded familiar, but Tess couldn't place it. She decided not to dwell on it for now.

"Vhell, that's your decision to make. But I feel that to return him now would be to show weakness, hm?"

_Razer!_

"Obviously, Razer. He still hasn't shut up?"

"No, he's driving my men crazy. Are you sure I am not allowed to beat him up? It might teach him a thing or two."

Tess felt fury sparking in her chest. It was difficult to walk away from the door, to sneak back to her zoomer; she knew her baby was in there. She didn't want to leave him, but there was no way for her to get him back on her own.

She drove back the way she'd come. While she drove, she tried to breathe deeply and calm down. Steady her nerves.

She saw Jak and Sig around a corner, and approached them cautiously. Their zoomer had scorch marks and bullet holes, but they looked OK.

"Tess!" Jak said when they got close enough to talk quietly. "Are you OK? Where's Cutter?"

"Dead. No one knows yet. But I know where the HQ is. We need to go, they're talking about beating Daxter up! I guess they don't like his stories as much as I do."

Jak nodded tersely. Torn and Jinx pulled up next to them.

"We need a plan. Don't you two go running in there, guns blazing," Sig said.

Tess described what she'd seen of the building. The back door where Razer and ostensibly Mizo were located, a large garage door in the front, another side door and a few ground floor windows.

"Wherever we go in, someone's going to know pretty quickly, especially with five of us."

"Are you about to say something about a distraction?" Jinx asked, looking wary.

"If it makes you feel better, we can use the word 'decoy.'"

"OK," Jak said, stopping the banter. "So we need an infiltration team to actually get Dax. And then we need someone to draw their attention until he's safe." He glanced at Tess. "As much as I want to get Dax myself, I think I'm better suited to causing trouble. Are you with me, Tess?"

She grinned. "That's why I brought this." She pulled an unimpressive-looking gun off of her back, then pressed a button. It lengthened until it was nearly too big for her to heft, and other parts clicked into place. When it was finished, there was a colored ring just above the trigger.

"Is that a modified morph gun?" Sig asked, while Jinx gave a low whistle.

"I want one!" Jak said petulantly. "That's even better than mine!"

She stuck her tongue out. "It's mine, and you can't have it. Maybe I'll make you one when we're back in Haven."

Torn rolled his eyes. "So you two want to distract them while we go get Daxter? Are you sure?"

Jinx grinned. "He's gonna be so surprised to see us and not you."

Tess jabbed her finger into Torn's chest. "You be gentle with Daxxie. He's been through a lot today."

He put his hands out, palms up. "Just this once, and only because you asked."

"You sure you two are gonna be alright on your own, chili peppers? You don't want me to come along?"

Jak shrugged. "One of you may have to help Dax, which leaves you two people to shoot whatever moves. I think three is a good number for the infiltration team."

"Alright. Who's going where?"

It was decided that Tess and Jak would head in through the garage, since that seemed like the closest thing to a front door the facility had. Torn expressed the opinion that that was also where they could do the most damage, which put disturbingly similar "hell yeah" expressions on the blondes' faces. Sig, Torn and Jinx would give their comrades a few minutes to get started, then would try their luck with the side door. When Daxter was safe, they'd call Tess or Jak on the comm; if neither responded, Sig and Torn would go to help them out, while Jinx got Daxter back to their own garage.

Tess hopped on a zoomer behind Jak, morph gun at the ready, and gave a two-fingered salute to the others.

"Give 'em hell, Queenie," Jinx called, as loud as he dared. She laughed and tossed her hair as Jak drove off.

* * *

Razer was not particularly pleased about today's events. Personally, he thought that taking the redhead hostage had been ill-advised. Hostages were a pain in the ass, and this was just asking for trouble in a fight they were already losing. If Mizo had asked Razer, he would have told him to focus on the races—keeping their cars in the best shape possible, making sure all of their racers were in top shape. Instead, Cutter was missing and some of Mizo's operations had been compromised. And Razer was sure that wasn't the end of it.

Working on his car calmed him, but not much. _Really, the man is impossible_, he thought, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. _If Mizo listens to me in the bedroom, why not in the area of tactics and strategy?_

Of course, when two pretty blondes exploded through the garage door, his day got a thousand times worse.

Tess and Jak burst through with a combination of grenades and well-placed shots, driving right into the middle of the space.

"You know," Jak drawled, as Razer scrambled to his feet, "I think our associates _did_ tell you you'd regret taking Daxter hostage."

Even before any of Mizo's goons could respond, Tess had fired a round into Razer's beloved car.

"Get them! Get everybody in here who can hold a gun!" he shouted at the nearest man, who rushed to obey. Everyone trained their guns on Jak and Tess, who watched coolly.

"Surrender now, and we may let you live," Razer sneered. "Honestly, did you think this would—"

At the same moment that Tess jumped off of the zoomer, Jak slammed his foot on the accelerator, driving right into Mizo's men. He threw himself clear just before the vehicle crashed into a wall and exploded.

Tess tossed a grenade into the seat of the nearest car and took cover behind a workbench, switching her gun to the blue eco mod.

_Less than two minutes and we're up to two explosions_, she thought to herself as the grenade went off. _Not bad_.

Jak was in Dark form by now, tearing through gangsters with a feral grin. Razer and Shiv were crouched in cover across the room, but she couldn't tell what they were up to.

The garage was rectangular and looked like it had been part of a factory once. There were ladders placed on the walls; there was some kind of hoist mechanism in the middle of the place, which probably had once been used to move crates and boxes. Now, it was probably used to move cars around in a pinch. It was essentially a small crane with a big, industrial hook at the end. The ladders were probably used for servicing the crane, or dealing with cargo that had gotten stuck.

Tess climbed up on top of the workbench, firing as she went, and got a handhold on a nearby ladder. Climbing as fast as she could, she made it to an overhead beam and, balancing carefully, started inching across to get to the crane controls.

She looked down, pausing to fire a shot here and there when somebody got too close to Jak. He was drawing everyone's attention now, leaving Tess free to move around as she pleased.

_Almost everyone's attention_. UR-86 was standing across the way on the other end of the beam, making menacing clicking sounds. Tess assumed they were meant to be menacing, anyway.

She switched to her new prototype mod, which used dark eco. It manifested similar to a peacemaker shot in that it was more of a giant blast than a targeted shot. When the eco slammed into UR-86, it blasted a hole in his midsection, and Tess cheered inwardly.

Unfortunately, UR-86 was a robot, and therefore immune to pain. Tess' celebration was cut short when he fired a shot at her; she dodged, but lost her balance, toppling off the edge of the overhead beam.

_Should've listened to Sig. He says always aim for the head first_, she thought as she threw her hands out, desperately trying to grab onto something. She managed to catch the edge of the metal beam with one hand, but there was no way to get a good grip.

The crane wasn't too much farther down the way. If she could just inch close enough, she could jump onto the crane itself, then slide down to the controls. And the havoc she could wreak with that kind of machinery was endless.

Reaching over her shoulder, she holstered her gun. She slid one hand down at a time, pulling herself along while her feet dangled in thin air, and hoped nobody with a gun looked up.

Above her, UR-86 was dangerously close. He clearly knew he hadn't finished the job.

_So close! I can almost grab the crane! _But he was on top of her, extending a claw to grab on, and she was nowhere near strong enough to get away if he grabbed her. Using all the strength in her arms, she pushed off, sideways, and flew through the air.

Her ribs protested loudly when she slammed into the iron crane, but she managed to get a handhold. As quickly as she could, while UR-86 reevaluated the situation, she slid down to the crane's controls. There was a small box for the operator to sit in, which meant she had some protection. Still…

She leaned out the small window on her left and fired a blast right at UR-86's head, taking it clean off.

The robot's body swayed on the beam for a moment before falling to the floor with a resounding crash. Apparently, the eco had sparked some kind of reaction with UR-86's wiring, because the crash was followed by a loud boom.

Tess set to work with the crane. She hooked whatever she could with it—people, cars, heavy tools—and just started throwing them around, turning the garage into a tornado of debris and screaming gangsters.

Jak looked up at her from the ground floor, now back to normal, and gave her a look that said, "I have an idea." He crouched in cover while she picked up her comm.

* * *

Daxter never thought he'd be so happy to see Torn. Or even Jinx. (He was always happy to see Sig.)

"Finally! What took you guys so long? And where are Jak and Tess?"

"They're creating a diversion up front," Torn said, cutting through the ropes tying Dax to a chair. The redhead stood, rubbing his wrists. He had bruises on his face and arms, but no real damage had been done, and he could walk on his own.

"Come on, chili pepper, time to go. They may be a pair of juggernauts, but they're still just two people against a whole mess of thugs." As Sig said it, a resounding boom shook the whole building. A fire alarm started to go off, and after a moment, they could all smell eco and smoke.

"Huh. Mizo's building actual has fire alarms," Daxter said, not particularly concerned. "Who knew he cared about fire code?"

"They're bringin' the whole place down!" Jinx said. "Come on, let's go!"

They hadn't run into much resistance on the way in—proof of Jak and Tess' ability to create massive amounts of chaos in no time at all. Now, no one stood in their way as they hurried out of the building. Torn called Tess as soon as they had made it to their zoomers.

"Tess! Come in! We have him!"

"I'm a little busy, Torn!" He thought he could hear heavy machinery over the comm. "But you guys can go! Jak and I can handle it!"

Daxter leaned across the commander to shout into the comm. "Tess, baby, I ain't leavin' without ya!"

"Oh, yes you are!"

Sig gestured to the HQ with his Peacemaker. "What say we forget the plan, go get them and leave together?"

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Daxter said, tugging one of Jinx's pistols from its holster. Jinx shrugged, and all of them looked at Torn.

"Ugh, fine. We'll go get them."

"Don't pretend you don't wanna be the knight in shining armor for Pretty Boy, Torn."

It was lucky that Tess and Jak really _didn't_ need their help, because what they saw in the garage stopped them dead.

Fires had sprung up throughout the place, and it was tough to see through the smoke. But upon closer inspection, it was obvious that Jak was swinging around and shooting from some kind of crane. One boot was balanced on an industrial sized hook, the other propped where the hook attached to a thick rope.

Thugs were screaming in terror; more than a few corpses lay strewn around the place, and the survivors were either trying to escape or were cowering in cover. Shots were flying around, but most of them were coming from Jak, who was grinning like his birthday had come early.

He saw them standing at the garage entrance and shouted up to Tess. She slid down the rope, and threw something into the back of the garage, though it wasn't clear what she was aiming at. Both ran hard for the entrance, and when the grenade exploded, the force of the blast pushed them out and onto their stomachs.

The whole building groaned—with all the fire and discharged eco in the air, the last explosion had done it in.

"We need to get out of here! This place is going down in flames!" Tess shouted, and they ran to their cars. The zoomers had to take an extra person each, but they made do, and cleared the block as the building collapsed completely. Looking back over his shoulder, Jak called to the others.

"Looks like we lit up more than Mizo's HQ."

He was right; the fire was spreading to the neighboring factories, eating up all of the flammable materials within.

"At this rate, this whole district will go up!" Jinx said, grinning. "Really, no one should ever leave the two of you alone together. Anywhere. Ever."

Torn looked a little guilty. "There aren't any residential buildings in this district, right?"

"Unless more people are living in factories, then no," Tess said. "Torn, I'd never light up innocent people's homes. You know that."

Daxter was uncharacteristically quiet on the trip back to their own garage. When they got back, Tess and Jak looked him over thoroughly. They wouldn't let him out of their sight for their first 45 minutes back.

Finally, he said something. "I can't believe you guys did that for me. You literally destroyed part of a city to get me back! Are you two serious right now?"

Both blondes blinked at him, like he was asking a stupid question.

"Of course, Daxter," Jak said. "What would we do if the world needed saving again, and you weren't around? You can't leave these things up to your sidekick."

"And nobody takes my Daxxie and lives to tell about it!" Tess exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

From the couch, Torn added, "I'm going to need to put you under FL protection when this is all over. We can't have you getting kidnapped in Haven; I have no idea how we'd deal with the property damage." Jak rolled his eyes at him, and Torn added, "No, seriously. I'm talking to Ashelin about this. Daxter is a massive security risk."

"Who cares? All's well that end's well," Jinx said, taking a swig of beer from his position at the bar.

"I agree," Sig said, just as Rayn walked in. She looked flustered and confused.

"I've just heard that somebody hit Mizo's HQ! Their garage is demolished, and they may not be able to continue in the competition!"

"If they forfeit, do we still get the antidote?" Jak asked.

"I—I suppose so, we would still win. And we'd technically have beaten Mizo," she said, sitting down heavily. After a moment, her eyes narrowed.

"Why don't any of you seem surprised?"

"He had it comin'," Daxter supplied. "I mean, it was only a matter of time before somebody went after him, right?" No one else met Rayn's gaze.

"Yes, I suppose it was only a matter of time before _somebody_ attacked him," she said, looking around the room suspiciously. "I am simply _dying_ to know who it was."

"Who knows? Mizo had a ton of enemies," Jinx said breezily. "You know how it is in the crime world, Rayn."

* * *

The next day, the report of the fire was all over the news. Of course, Mizo's HQ location wasn't public knowledge, so that wasn't discussed, but anyone who had ever raced in Kras knew about it.

Mizo's racers didn't drop out of the competition, however. When Blitz came to interview them before the next race, he seemed on edge, and tried to avoid talking about the incident. But Razer looked absolutely murderous. Which made sense when they saw the car he was driving.

Compared to Razer's old ride—a multi-million credit masterpiece—this vehicle might as well have been pulled straight from the junkyard. And while equipment wasn't everything, well, there was no way he was winning with _that_ rickety car. Jak and Daxter both had to make an effort not to laugh in his face.

"I think we all know who's to blame for this," he said through gritted teeth. "This is entirely unfair."

Daxter grinned cheekily, flanked by Jak and Tess. "Ya shouldn'ta messed with the goods, buddy. These two will do anything to protect their star racer. Hadn't ya heard? I'm a massive security risk."


End file.
